Thousands of people protested in more than 20 towns and cities across Poland on Thursday, calling for free and legal abortion services. The demonstrations were timed to the sixth anniversary of a near-total abortion ban imposed by the country’s highest court.
The protests come days after parliament passed two bills that would ease abortion restrictions in the mostly Catholic country. The bills are widely expected to be vetoed by President Karol Nawrocki, a conservative.
Protesters mark sixth anniversary of near-total ban
In the capital, Warsaw, about 1,000 demonstrators gathered in front of parliament despite rain. Organisers say the turnout reflects growing frustration with the pace of change under the current government.
Emilia Niemiec, 36, who manages the AboTak abortion centre, said little had improved. “Over the last six years, nothing has really changed,” she said. The centre provides women with resources, including pills, and a space to seek support or carry out a pharmacological abortion.
Government bills face likely presidential veto
Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s government promised to liberalise abortion laws before its 2023 election victory, but divisions within the coalition have slowed progress. The latest draft laws were passed a year before the next parliamentary election.
Zofia Marcinek of the Abortion Dream Team, a reproductive rights group in Warsaw, described the bills as “token gestures” rather than a genuine effort to reform the law. She said the government knew the drafts had no chance of withstanding a presidential veto, and was instead trying to create the impression of action because it needs women’s support to win elections next year.
Campaigners behind Thursday’s protests argue that the Tusk government has betrayed Polish women. They also claim that the prime minister’s statements that access to abortion has improved have made it harder for some women to get care.
Limited legal grounds and abortions carried out outside hospitals
Under current law, abortion is legal only when a pregnancy results from a criminal act, such as rape or incest, or when it threatens the life or health of the mother. Restrictive rules have been in place since 1993, and in 2020 the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) government tightened them further by banning abortions of foetuses with congenital defects.
Despite the restrictions, abortions remain common, with most carried out by women at home using pills obtained from abroad. Women who have abortions, including by taking pills, do not face criminal responsibility under Polish law. However, people who help them, including doctors and family members, can potentially be prosecuted.
According to data from the National Health Fund, Polish hospitals performed 573 abortions in the first half of 2026. That compares with 452 in the whole of 2022, before Tusk came to power. Activists, however, say tens of thousands of abortions take place each year outside hospitals.
Marcinek said the government’s messaging was misleading. “Women getting pregnant hear the prime minister say that everything is OK, that there is access to abortion, and then they end up in the hospital and see that is not the case,” she said. “So they come to us when it’s very late and very complicated and expensive to help them.”
